


Skills

by telperion_15



Category: Primeval
Genre: Birthday, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Surprise Party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-09
Updated: 2012-02-09
Packaged: 2017-10-30 21:03:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/336098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/telperion_15/pseuds/telperion_15
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryan has picked up a lot of skills during his years in the military, and sometimes he has to put them to rather unorthodox uses.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Skills

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written as a birthday fic for munchkinofdoom.
> 
> A note about OCs:  
> Primeval fandom on LiveJournal has generated a number of fanon OCs, created by different authors and freely used by others, to the extent that some of them have now taken on lives of their own. The ones that appear in this fic, Lyle, Ditzy, Blade, Kermit and Finn, belong to fredbassett.

**Stealth**  
  
Ryan held himself still and glanced across at his sleeping companion. Connor slept heavily, and it was normally rather difficult to wake him up (especially at weekends), but he seemed to have this sixth sense that told him when Ryan was trying to get out of bed that made him grab hold and cling on like a limpet, even when he was dead to the world.  
  
It was quite sweet, but on this particular occasion would be rather inconvenient.  
  
A certain amount of stealth was going to be called for.  
  
Breathing steadily, Ryan slid his legs across the mattress to the edge of the bed, and slowly started lowering his feet to the floor. As he did so, he gingerly lifted the duvet and folded it back, freeing himself from its confines.  
  
Connor stirred and mumbled something in his sleep. Ryan froze.  
  
Ten seconds later he decided it was safe to keep going. Cautiously he twisted his body and sat up at the same time as his feet hit the floor. Then, going for broke, he immediately flowed to his feet.  
  
Success! Ryan was out of bed and Connor was still asleep. Now all he had to do was make it across the room and out the door while making sure his lover stayed that way. He didn’t want Connor to wake up yet.  
  
Ryan tiptoed across the room, making sure to avoid the creaky floorboard in front of the wardrobe, and snagging his dressing gown off the hook on the back of the door before easing it open and stepping out on to the landing where, for the first time in what felt like about an hour, Ryan allowed himself to breath out.  
  
He listened for a few seconds to check that Connor hadn’t woken up after all, and then hurried down the stairs and into the kitchen.  
  
Preparations didn’t take very long, and soon Ryan was on his way back up those same stairs, this time carrying a tray, and not managing to be quite as quiet as he would have liked.  
  
As it turned out, though, it didn’t matter. His presence had apparently finally been missed, and when he nudged open the bedroom door again he saw that Connor had surfaced, and was looking in some confusion between the empty other half of the bed, and Ryan standing in the doorway.  
  
“What you doing there?” Connor asked, clearly not fully awake yet.  
  
“Getting breakfast,” Ryan said, nodding down at the tray in his hands. “I thought we could have in bed today, since it’s a special occasion.”  
  
“Huh?”  
  
Ryan rolled his eyes fondly and walked over to the bed, setting the tray down on the cabinet beside it.  
  
“Happy Birthday, Connor.”  
  
  
 **Improvisation**  
  
Connor swallowed his last mouthful of toast and smiled broadly at Ryan. “That was yummy, thank you.”  
  
Ryan smiled back. “Least I could do on your birthday.” Then he glanced down at the remaining crumbs and dark-coloured smears on Connor’s plate. “Still can’t fathom how you can eat that stuff, though.”  
  
“It’s marmite,” Connor proclaimed. “You either love it or you hate it.”  
  
“Well, I think I’m firmly in the latter camp on this occasion,” Ryan replied, laughing.  
  
“And yet you still brought yourself to spread it on my toast,” Connor said. He clasped his hands to his chest and looked at Ryan in sycophantic adoration. “My hero.”  
  
“So funny,” Ryan muttered, although he was unable to completely suppress his look of amusement.  
  
“Seriously, though,” Connor continued, abandoning his playacting. “Thanks for this. It’s a great start to my birthday.”  
  
Without warning, he leaned over and gave Ryan a quick kiss. The gesture was nice, but unfortunately, the taste on Connor’s lips wasn’t, and Ryan couldn’t help grimacing as Connor sat back again. Connor noticed, of course, and pouted.  
  
“Oh, wonderful. Nice to know you like kissing me so much.”  
  
“Sorry, Conn, I don’t mean to. But you taste of marmite,” Ryan told him. He shuddered. “It’s horrible.”  
  
“So I suppose there’s no chance of a proper happy birthday kiss until I’ve cleaned my teeth, then?” Connor asked, still pouting.  
  
Ryan shrugged. “Sorry.” Then an idea occurred to him. “Although…I think there’s a way we could get round it.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Really.” Ryan nodded, and then suddenly shimmied down the bed and under the duvet.  
  
“What are you doing?” Connor’s muffled voice sounded confused. “I thought you were going to kiss me?”  
  
“I’m improvising,” Ryan replied. He lifted the duvet briefly so he could look up at Connor. “After all, I don’t have to kiss you on the mouth.”  
  
  
 **Planning**  
  
With a satisfied smile, Ryan drew a line through point number five on the list headed ‘Operation Birthday’.  
  
He hadn’t anticipated too much of a problem in getting Lester to let everybody have half the afternoon off (barring anomalies, of course) – having already tested the waters earlier in the week, and received the answer “We shall see,” Ryan had been reasonably sure that he would be able to get his way.  
  
Pointing out that it would mean several Connor and Cutter free hours had only sealed the deal.  
  
Ryan scanned down the list again, mentally ranking all the things that still needed to be done, and working out his plan of action.  
  
Everything was going swimmingly so far. Now he needed to gather the others.  
  
  
 **Delegation**  
  
“Right,” said Ryan, looking at the group of people gathered in front of him. “Jobs.”  
  
“What kind of jobs?” Lyle asked suspiciously.  
  
“Nothing too strenuous, don’t worry,” Ryan told him, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.  
  
Lyle apparently possessed no such restraint, and poked his tongue out at Ryan.  
  
Ryan ignored him. “First thing’s first, distraction duty.” He looked at Abby. “That’s down to you.”  
  
Abby grinned. “I’m on it. How long do you want him distracted for?”  
  
“Until about seven should do it. And I don’t care how you manage it, so long as he doesn’t suspect anything.”  
  
“Piece of cake,” Abby said.  
  
“Oh, and one other thing. Did you bring the spare keys to your flat so we can get in?”  
  
“Yep.” Abby tossed them to him. They’d decided to use Abby’s flat instead of Ryan’s place as it was bigger. Ryan didn’t really fancy trying to cram a whole crowd of people into his rather cramped living room.  
  
“Thanks. Now, the next thing is food and the cake. Miss Brown, can you take care of that? It’s all pre-ordered – it just needs picking up.”  
  
“Not a problem. And I think we can dispense with the ‘Miss Brown’ now, don’t you?” said Claudia, smiling.  
  
“Okay…Claudia.” Ryan smiled back, and then consulted his list. “Hart, Jon, Ditzy, Blade – you’re down for decorating. None of you have any problem with ladders, do you?”  
  
Three of the four nodded, while Lyle, somewhat predictably, said, “Oi, I thought you said this wouldn’t be too strenuous.”  
  
“Good,” Ryan said, ignoring the protest. “I hope you all have a suitably artistic eye.”  
  
“What about me?” Cutter asked, from his position at the back of the group.  
  
“You can help me with the shopping,” Claudia said. “I could do with a hand if Captain Ryan’s ordered as much as I suspect he has.” Then she turned to Ryan. “Unless you have something else specific for him to do.”  
  
“No.” Ryan shook his head. “You’re welcome to him. And you can take Finn and Kermit too, if you like. They’re good at lifting and carrying. Oh, and I think you can probably drop the ‘Captain’, Claudia.”  
  
Claudia inclined her head in acknowledgment. “Touché.”  
  
“What are you going to be doing while the rest of us get on with all this, anyway?” Lyle said, narrowing his eyes.  
  
“I would have thought that was obvious,” Ryan replied, waving his list. “I’ll be coordinating.”  
  
  
 **Perseverance**  
  
Ryan considered for a few seconds, and then voiced his decision. “Needs to go up a bit on the right,” he said.  
  
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” muttered Lyle, from where he was perched rather precariously on a ladder. “Will you stop being a bloody perfectionist!”  
  
“Jon, the sodding thing is practically at a forty-five degree angle. Yank your side up a bit!”  
  
At the other end of the banner, and also balancing on a ladder, Stephen smirked, obviously pleased that he’d managed to get his end at the right height already. Lyle scowled at everyone, and then obediently raised the banner higher, so that the words ‘Happy Birthday Connor’ were in an approximately horizontal line.  
  
A sudden bang came from the other side of the room, and Ryan looked over his shoulder to see that Blade was holding the shrivelled remains of one of the balloons he was in the process of blowing up.  
  
“Sorry, boss,” said the other soldier. “Caught it on the tip of my knife.”  
  
Ryan briefly wondered how knives factored in to the activity of blowing up balloons, and then decided not to ask. “Got many more to do?” he enquired instead.  
  
“Just a few,” Ditzy answered, struggling with a whole bunch of the things that he was trying to persuade to stay in the corner next to the bookcase. “Then we’ll move on to the streamers.”  
  
“Great,” Ryan said. He turned back to see how Stephen and Lyle were doing with the banner, but right at that moment, his mobile rang. The display told him it was Abby, and he answered it quickly.  
  
“Everything all right?” he asked.  
  
“ _Fine_ ,” came Abby’s voice. “ _Just checking how much longer you need, that’s all_.”  
  
Ryan looked around. “About an hour more should do it, I think. I’m hoping Claudia and the others will be here with the food soon. In fact,” Ryan peered out of the window, “they’ve just turned up, so we’re right on schedule.”  
  
“ _Okay, an hour it is_.”  
  
“Connor doesn’t suspect anything, does he?”  
  
“ _I don’t think so. He’s a bit miffed that everyone seems to have disappeared though. I claimed I didn’t know where you all were, but that I thought I’d heard Lester saying something about sending you all out to a possible sighting. I commiserated with him about being left out of the action for a while, and then I took him out for a birthday drink when there was no sign of you returning. We’re in the pub now_.”  
  
“I hope he’s not too upset,” Ryan said. The last thing he wanted was to give Connor bad memories of his birthday.  
  
“ _He’ll soon get over it when we get back there_ ,” Abby said reassuringly. Then, “ _Oops, I’d better go – he’s on his way back from the bar. See you in an hour_.” And she hung up.  
  
“Right, you lot,” said Ryan, just as Claudia came in the door carrying two shopping bags, with a similarly laden Cutter, Kermit, and Finn trailing behind her. “You heard that – we’ve got an hour, so let’s get cracking.”  
  
He looked up at the banner again, and then glared at Lyle. “Will you get that bloody thing at the right height, Jon!”  
  
  
 **Patience**  
  
“How much longer are we going to have to sit here in the dark?” asked a voice that sounded Scottish and grumpy.  
  
“Not much longer, Professor,” Ryan replied.  
  
“It’d better bloody not be,” Lyle groused. “First I nearly break my neck climbing up a ladder, now I’m being forced to squash myself behind a sofa for sodding ages.”  
  
“Pack it in, Jon,” said Ryan. He switched on the backlight on his watch and quickly checked the time. “It’s only been six minutes. You need to learn some patience.”  
  
A muttered curse told Ryan exactly what Lyle thought of that suggestion.  
  
“Abby knew to leave it another hour, and we’re just shy of that now. They’ll be here soon…”  
  
“Ssh,” hissed Ditzy suddenly. “I think I can hear a car pulling up outside.”  
  
The slamming of car doors a moment later proved him right, and everyone held their breath as they heard the outer door of the building open and shut, and footsteps coming down the hallway. Then there was the sound of a key in a lock, and the flat’s front door opened.  
  
“I’m really sorry, Connor,” came Abby’s voice. “I don’t know where they are. Look why don’t you pick out a DVD to watch, while I go and call the pizza company…”  
  
Then the lights were switched on, and after a split second pause everyone leapt out and shouted, “ _Surprise!_ ”  
  
His eyes bugging out of his head, Connor just stared at them all for a moment. Then he started to grin. “Oh my god!” he said. “Wow!”  
  
  
 **Lying**  
  
Connor cornered Ryan in the kitchen about half an hour after the party had started, sliding his arms around Ryan and hugging him tight.  
  
“This is all down to you, isn’t it?” he said. “I mean, the others helped, obviously. But it was your idea.”  
  
Ryan looked at his lover and grinned. “I don’t know what you mean,” he said. "It was nothing to do with me at all.”  
  
Then he winked.


End file.
